Fox reporter thanks Trump after the president refuses to answer questions from CNN and calls on him instead

UPDATE: Roberts issued a statement regarding the incident, calling it “unfair” for the president to issue a “blanket condemnation of [CNN] as ‘fake news’.”

During a July 13 press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May, President Donald Trump refused to answer a question from CNN’s Jim Acosta, dismissing the network as “fake news.” He instead called on Fox’s John Roberts, claiming he prefered to answer a question from a “real network.” Instead of defending Acosta or pushing back on the president’s attack on freedom of the press, Roberts thanked Trump and continued with a question.

Earlier in the press conference, Trump had criticized NBC for “dishonest reporting” and claimed the network was “possibly worse than CNN.” Trump’s attacks on news outlets come as no surprise given hisyearslongwar on the press. The president’s particular vitriol for CNN is also nothing new.

Roberts’ willingness to accept Trump’s dismissal of a rival network as “fake news” and his failure to stand up for a fellow reporter demonstrate Fox’s apathy toward the president’s aggressive, anti-free press rhetoric and the network’s desire to remain his favorite news outlet.

JIM ACOSTA: Mr. President, since you attacked CNN, can I ask you a question?

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Grace Bennett is a researcher at Media Matters, where she has worked since June 2017. She has a bachelor’s degree in government from Georgetown University. She previously has interned at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and on Capitol Hill.

CNN has announced it hired former Department of Justice spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores as a political editor to "coordinate political coverage for the 2020 campaign at the network." This hiring decision is surprising given Isgur’s lack of journalism experience, her conflicts of interest stemming from previous roles in the Trump Justice Department and multiple GOP campaigns, and the fact that she personally pledged loyaly to Presdient Donald Trump. But, additionally, Isgur repeatedly made cable news appearances where she pushed false and highly partisan talking points over the years, raising even more questions about the value of involving her in 2020 campaign coverage.